With the evolving situation of the 2020 humanitarian crisis, BUSINESSMED noticed that BSOs are grappling with how to ensure their business continuity, to continue serving their members and to better comply with the new working conditions. Taking that and the travel restrictions into consideration, BUSINESSMED redesigned its academies planned in the framework of the EBSOMED project.

To address these challenges, the academies were redesigned to debate the agility and resilience of the BSOs to ensure business continuity in different area of work. To do so, BUSINESSMED conceived a cycle of webinars and mobilized international organizations with regional expertise and conducted their recovery plan to give share their knowledge   and formulate recommendations to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. The   cycle was called “Building back resilience: the role of Employers’ and Business Association in shaping the new normal” and was divided into 4 online events.

The four webinars organized with the implication of the UFM; called representatives of the private sector to get involved in the debates on how organisations and SMEs can take full advantage of the crisis and improve their services using the opportunities offered by technologies.  

The webinar "Connecting business initiatives response to COVID-19: transforming the private sector engagement through SDGs" was held on October 22nd, 2020 and was an opportunity to explore how COVID-19 has disrupted businesses across the Mediterranean and focused on the way organisations can connect their sustainable initiatives to respond to the crisis.  Recommendations were formulated focusing on the role of the involved institutions in addressing the unfamiliar challenges that have come with the pandemic with a focus on the private sector’s response to crisis in a way that aligns with the SDGs. 

The debates and consultations led to the elaboration of a “main outcomes” paper available through this link.